PHOTO : MEAGHAN GIPPS
Echoplant Studio B control room
sessions for their album Autumn on the Radio . The band had booked space at a local studio , only to arrive and realize their rate didn ’ t include an engineer . With no previous experience , Worsley felt the producer ’ s chair beckoning and took a seat at the console . He was hooked .
While still playing with various outfits , he began honing his skills as a producer and engineer for his own projects and others . As his list of credits grew , so too did his home-based studio , which would eventually become Echoplant , and the complement of gear comprising it .
His work with acclaimed electronic rock duo Dear Rouge helped to push his profile to the national level . In addition to co-writing some cuts , Worsley performed on , produced , engineered , and mixed the band ’ s debut LP , Black to Gold , which spawned several successful singles including the breakout hit “ I Heard I Had ” – the third-most played track on Canadian alternative radio in 2014 – and the stirring title track .
Live room
PHOTO : STEVEN SHEPHERD
Two-storey echo chamber with 1919 Heintzman upright
In 2015 , he won the award for Engineer of the Year and got a nod for Producer of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards . Since , he ’ s worked with many among the current cohort of critically adored Canadian indie acts like Van Damsel , Basia Bulat , Emilie & Ogden , and Young Galaxy . Dear Rouge taking the prize for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2016 JUNO Awards was the icing on the metaphorical cake that was an incredibly successful couple of years . And in keeping with that metaphor , his takeover of Vogville in early 2016 was essentially the master chef moving into a bigger , better bakery .
“ I ’ ve been working out of my home studio for 10 years ,” Worsley shares . “ It was great and I loved working out of there . It was a pretty big space and had everything I needed . A ton of albums came out of that , but then I was approaching a point where I just needed something bigger .”
The studio , which is now dubbed Echoplant Studio A , occupies a detached outbuilding on his property . In addition to constraints inherent in its size , it also lacked its own plumbing , meaning clients and collaborators had to use the washroom in the house . “ Ten years of that , it was starting to get a bit old ,” Worsley says with a laugh .
PHOTO : MEAGHAN GIPPS
PROFESSIONAL SOUND • 31